[no_sweat]

Tipu - pic taken about 6 years ago - pre Digicam Days and scanned.
Took him off the streets. Probably cross between local gal and an imported something (As told to me by someone feeding his Mom - This guy was the only male and survivor of the Litter). Expired last year. Shed more tears on him than when my wife got married to someone else.



Local mongrels are pretty tough breed. Their cross is good too. Very easy to maintain than the purebreds (I've heard).

They say you give a Dog the space you can spare, time you can spend and food you can afford - they give you their whole life in return.

[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by no_sweat

Local mongrels are pretty tough breed. Their cross is good too. Very easy to maintain than the purebreds (I've heard).

Any species takes hundreds of years to evolve itself and adjust to the local environs and climate. As these Indian hounds have been here for many centuries they are obviously very well adapted to the conditions.

The foreign breeds (I wouldn't want to call them pure breeds, as if Indian breeds are impure . They are just breeds found outside our nation) have been bought here just a few decades at the most. Hence it would take time for these breeds to adapt themselves to the extreme conditions in the sub-continent. I some times feel pity for some breeds such as Saint Bernard etc, which are actually suited for cold environs and are bred in regions where the heat is too high for them. It is very important as far as I am concerned to select a breed not just by its looks but keeping in mind its requirements, especially climate. Its like breeding a Polar bear in Thar desert

They say you give a Dog the space you can spare, time you can spend and food you can afford - they give you their whole life in return.

The most believable truth if you ever had a dog. They are something special, innocent as a child sometimes, more mature than humans at times and some other times have those extra ability called sixth sense as if they are saints.

By the way your Tipu looks as if in deep thought. Was he mischievous or calm guy.

[no_sweat]

Originally Posted by vamsi.kona

By the way your Tipu looks as if in deep thought. Was he mischievous or calm guy.

That depended upon his mood actually. But he was gentleman to the core. Was very gentle with the kids but you should have seen his rage when someone from the family tried to pet some other dog in front of him.

[vamsi.kona]

Ya, dogs can get really possessive sometimes

[Ranjan Sharma]

Had to come to office at this hour of day. This is the first time I had to come at this time.

Got a call from home 5 mins back. One of my Dogs is still sitting on the door waiting for me. He's thinking I am gonna be back in some time.

[vamsi.kona]

I will not be surprised if you find it still waiting there when you go home.

[flotsam]

My Miniature Schnauzer:

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by vamsi.kona

I will not be surprised if you find it still waiting there when you go home.

Yeah, I know.... Have asked one of my friend to take him out for a long walk. he will probably feel tired after that and sleep.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Meet the rock stars of our home.
Official names . Bruno & Dudley.

[no_sweat]

Have anybody of you had to be a referee in a Dogfight? Maybe involving more than 3 dogs? Thats a very bad situation to be in.
You don't wanna, but are afraid that your dog may get his eye poked out, so you take the chain (generally used as a leash) and get fighting (literally get in the fight) and try to pull your pal out using his tail while trying to make sure that he doesn't bite you back while trying to hold the other dogs at bay.. whew!!!

My town has lots of strays and my doggy had the tendency of picking up fights not thinking of his size and the enemy group size whenever he could get past our gate. ( To my horror, I have even seen him once trying to get his way across with a road roller. )

Once even tried to lead a pack to hunt fully Grown pig. Luckily my Elder brother intervened and peace prevailed

[pramodkumar]

A latest pic of my sweetheart. She loves to drool when ever some one is eating, though the moment i say Casper!!!! she retracts and goes away and lies down like an aeroplane. Every time You can see 2 almost 12 cm salaiva lines dangling on either side of her mouth(not seen in this pic). For the records she is very well fed, she leaves her food and comes and drools infront of us when we eat. I guess she is little bad mannerd, but she is our baccha so we dont care actually.




Pramod

[shankar.balan]

a good way to handle dog fights is to chuck buckets of water over the snarling/ fighting pack OR use a hosepipe to shoot them with jets of water.

they will typically stop fighting and vanish, shaking themselves. dont get too close because it is downright dangerous. in the heat of the moment, apart from the other unknown canines involved in the fight, even one's own pet is quite capable of taking a fair sized chunk out of one's hand/arm/leg or other part of the anatomy that may be handy. Purely a defensive reaction.

And never catch a dog by his/her tail - the tail bones are exceptionally delicate and fracture very easily - they cant even be put into a cast and the dog will suffer a great deal of pain, should there be a fracture/ dislocation. Dogs generally cant stand it if anyone touches their tails - their typical reaction is to defend themselves with their teeth and that can be seriously dicey for the tail-catching human.

Use the Scruff of the neck if absolutely necessary - even their own mothers carry their puppies sometimes by the scruffs of their necks.

Else, cradle the dog under his/her chest, with your arms behind his/her elbows and physically lift them out of the situation by hugging them close to you. thats much better because it doesnt put any stress on any of the dog's delicate bones.

There is really no substitute for taking one's dogs out on a leash rather than loose, unless of course they are of exceptionally even temperament and have been trained not to react adversely to other animals and indeed "socialized".

One sees this often abroad where lots of dogs are let free to play and run about in the public parks - I have never seen any of them fighting with each other the way our local canine fraternity seem to do. Of course, a big advantage there is that there are no strays or "less-privileged canine brethren".

Originally Posted by no_sweat

Have anybody of you had to be a referee in a Dogfight? Maybe involving more than 3 dogs? Thats a very bad situation to be in.
You don't wanna, but are afraid that your dog may get his eye poked out, so you take the chain (generally used as a leash) and get fighting (literally get in the fight) and try to pull your pal out using his tail while trying to make sure that he doesn't bite you back while trying to hold the other dogs at bay.. whew!!!

My town has lots of strays and my doggy had the tendency of picking up fights not thinking of his size and the enemy group size whenever he could get past our gate. ( To my horror, I have even seen him once trying to get his way across with a road roller. )

Once even tried to lead a pack to hunt fully Grown pig. Luckily my Elder brother intervened and peace prevailed

[vamsi.kona]

Hey guys I would really appreciate if you write the stories/antics/experiences of dogs you had/have. That would make this thread more lively I believe. Below is one such example that I found at the following url

John Grogan || The Longest Trip Home

Hope I would be able to see many such stories here.

A story from Vickie Willmuth about Max
posted 03/08/2010



Dear Mr. Grogan, I just fininshed your wonderful book, Marley and Me. I had put off reading it because I KNEW it would make me cry. We lost our rottie, Max, on 5 November 2008, after 12 years. We had to make the same decision you had to make for Marley. Only now, am I able to read your book, and I still went through two boxes of Kleneex. My eyes are still a bit red.

I have had dogs all my life, my first one came into my life when I was still in diapers. But to this day, when I think of them, my eyes get a bit misty, and the paw prints they left on my heart throb with a bittersweet ache. I cherish every memory of each one. King. my first dog, would "babysit" while my mother hung the wash out or when ever she and I were outstide. She would tell him, "King watch Vicke." And I would not be allowed to crawl two inches from him, frogs were herded away, and he would not let me near a hedge that was full of wasp nests.

I learned to walk by taking hold of his ear, pulling up and tottering by his side. King's breed has never been clear, but he was a big dog, when he sat beside me when I sat on my tricycle, he was just as tall as me. Through the years, I was priviledged to be loved by some amazing dogs. Big ones and small. Each one leaving a special paw print on my life. When my husband and I married, we got a little dog from my grandparents, a "whodoneit". We called her Pug. She was our first child.

When our daughter was an infant, I would lay her on the couch for a nap, Pug would get up beside her, between her and the edge, stretch out as far as she could and lay there, until my daughter woke. We lost Pug after 16 years. It took us a little time, but in 1996, Max joined our family. Max loved to have his picture taken. When he saw a camera, he would pose, and was not happy until he heard the shutter click. We always put out a display in the fall in our yard, and as soon as the bales of hay arrived, he got excited. I belive he thought we did this just so he could have his photo taken.

Max made several people back away from the door when I opened it, 124 lbs and change of rottweiler meeting you at the door can be --ah--disconcerting? But as we say here in the south, he wouldn't bite a biscuit hard. Of course, Max was never put in the position to feel that we were in danger, had that happened, I believe he would have fought to the death. Max was a gentle giant. He played with kittens and never hurt them, letting them crawl all over him. Of course, afterwards, they needed to be toweled dry.

Max loved to ride. I have a Dodge Ram Quad cab. Half of the back seat is out. We removed it and my husband built a platform and we padded it to fit there for Max to ride, those tiny seats just don't fit the contours of a Rottie. My husband even built a set of portable stairs for him, because it became difficult for him to jump up into the truck. Max loved to ride. We made two trips with him to Lansing MI, to see our daughter while she was in grad school. A fourteen hour drive was right up his alley. When my husband called me at work, he had just arrived home, and let Max out, and told me that Max was down and couldn't get up---I left work. When I pulled into the driveway, there was Max on the ground, lying down, head up, he tried so hard to get up and greet me, but could not. We knew.

I truly enjoyed the book, laughing and crying all the way. I read your article in Parade about bringing Marley home. I saved it, it has special meaning to me, our Pug is buried elsewhere and even though I have a stone next to Max with her name on it, home isn't complete until we can bring her and place her beside Max. We are sans dog at present, but we knew even as we laid Max to rest that in time we would have another dog, and it will be a large breed.

No other dog ever replaces the ones we have lost, they come into our lives and they make their own special place, somehow they fill the huge paw prints we fisrt think can not be filled, then we realize that those prints really are the same size, just filled in a different and very special way by each one.

[prateekm]

My dog likes bread + chicken + dahi. Is that a good diet? He used to eat Royal Canin for 8 months and suddenly started disliking it. He never touches anything other than Royal Canin like Pedigree, Eukanuba, etc.

[shankar.balan]

if he likes bread, chicken and curd its fine.
just be sure the bread is "whole wheat" - try him on chapatis too.
Chicken bones are sharp and splinter prone, therefore dicey - therefore pull out the extremely small ones before feeding the dog.
Can also try the chicken with that fat red (husk) rice - all boiled up with a teaspoon on Haldi/Turmeric and a tablespoon of oil in it. add carrots which are healthy and add to crunch factor. When boiled up like this, the chicken bones also become softer and less sharp/splinter prone.
Curd is good for dogs generally because they contain probiotic and bacterial substances which help the dogs digestion, kidneys and liver too.

Originally Posted by prateekm

My dog likes bread + chicken + dahi. Is that a good diet? He used to eat Royal Canin for 8 months and suddenly started disliking it. He never touches anything other than Royal Canin like Pedigree, Eukanuba, etc.